Pierre Loti Chelsea

Last weekend, I visited the last of the three Pierre Loti locations in Manhattan (for now). This one was in Chelsea, located at 258 W 15^th St. In some ways it was similar to my previous experiences at Pierre Loti, but it did stand on its own in a couple of areas.

This location seemed like more of a wine bar than the one in Midtown. The bar was long and the space was divided into two narrow areas by the old looking wooden bar in the center of the room. The walls on either side of the room were red and white, so it may have once been two separate buildings, which would explain the briefly confusing dual entrance to the bar.

The wine list featured glasses from $9 to $18 and bottles started at $30 up to $186. I felt that the by the glass selection was a little limited and many of the wines were the private label “Pierre Loti Reserve” that still makes me cringe due to my last encounter with Pierre Loti. The wines by the glass were overwhelmingly French and I just haven’t been impressed with the wines from France at this group of wine bars. So, I went with a 2010 Manon Tempranillo from Spain. It smelled like tart cherries and had an herbaceous character to it, like a tomato leaf. The wine had flavors of red berries and brown sugar and was decent, but nothing special, unfortunately.

The atmosphere was relaxed with a low-key sophistication. The front windows were open to let the warm air in, the light was low, there were quiet conversations, and once some live jazz started in a corner of the bar some not-so-low-key middle-aged PDA began as well.

The service was much nicer and more helpful than at the Midtown location, although the waitress probably could have stopped by our table a little more often.

Compared to the other Pierre Loti locations, I would probably rate this place #2. My favorite is still the Pierre Loti at Union Square, although their wonderful wine list has probably changed since I last visited if the other two bars are any indication. This particular wine bar had a pleasant atmosphere but even though the wines were relatively inexpensive, they were lacking in variety and quality. I give Pierre Loti Chelsea a rating of 3 out of 5 glasses.

 

The old world bar

My glass of Tempranillo